The Messi effect is here and it’s starting to look massive. Apple CEO Tim Cook is thrilled with it, saying he “could not be happier with how the partnership is going,” while Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas is beaming as his club’s Instagram has grown to 14 million followers, more than any NFL, NHL or MLB team. And if you want to catch Lionel Messi in your town, be prepared to pay upwards of $600 for a ticket—maybe double that.
The exact numbers are hard to pin down because much of the data is either not publicly available, or not available yet. But it is starting to look as if Messi’s new deal with Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami, for between $50 million to $60 million and including revenue sharing agreements with league sponsors Apple and Adidas, is just the tip of the iceberg. (The arrangements with Apple and Adidas are meant to reflect the full amount of money Messi brings into the league and its sponsors.)
